Cooperation boosts East Side's prospects

Updated 5:17 pm, Friday, March 29, 2013

Jane Hodgdon of the Department of Education speaks with Tony Leverett during a tour of Wheatley Courts.

Jane Hodgdon of the Department of Education speaks with Tony Leverett during a tour of Wheatley Courts.

Photo: Helen L. Montoya / San Antonio Express-News

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Jackie Gorman is executive director of San Antonio for Growth on the Eastside.

Jackie Gorman is executive director of San Antonio for Growth on the Eastside.

Cooperation boosts East Side's prospects

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When it was announced recently that two major federal grants had been awarded to revitalize the Wheatley Heights neighborhood on San Antonio's East Side, reaction naturally focused on the financial impact of the announcement: More than $50 million in what's known as Promise and Choice grants, for a community long in need of new investment.

But beyond the significant dollar impact, there is another factor that I predict will have a broad and lasting impact on the East Side. That is the spirit of collaboration that was shown during the process of seeking these grants. Securing them from the Department of Education and the Department of Housing and Urban Development required diverse groups to set aside personal agendas and come together in a way that we haven't seen often enough on the East Side.

The San Antonio Independent School District, United Way, the San Antonio Housing Authority, the City of San Antonio, San Antonio for Growth on the Eastside, or SAGE, and other members of the community worked together to set goals and to tell our story in Washington, D.C., and the results inspire hope for future partnerships.

Securing these grants was the first step. Implementing them successfully will require even more willingness to come together, and East Side stakeholders must commit to increasing discourse and overcoming differences as we work to address the problems that face our community. But the good news is that the Promise and Choice grants are the most dramatic examples of what we believe is a trend of increasing collaboration and momentum on the East Side.

We've seen improvements that have made a difference in the quality of life for residents. In areas such as code compliance, securing vacant homes, animal control and trash pick-up, the city has performed, and shown a commitment to address other issues.

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But the city can't overcome the challenges facing the East Side on its own. Finding solutions requires strong partners, both corporate and nonprofit. SAGE is one of those partners, and we're seeing other nonprofit and corporate sponsors make investments in our community.

At SAGE, we believe that East Side revitalization efforts must be supported by a three-legged stool, with housing, education and economic development initiatives all working in tandem.

Through this approach, we've developed partners such as Glazer's, Frost, H-E-B, Spurs Sports & Entertainment and others that have contributed corporate dollars, supplementing city funding for SAGE economic development programs on the East Side. We've funded 35 Store-Front Grant applicants — business owners who receive matching funds to improve their properties and help revitalize our commercial corridors.

To leverage the Promise and Choice investments, SAGE has committed to focusing at least 50 percent of our Store-Front Grant dollars within the footprint of the Promise and Choice neighborhood.

Already, we have several clusters of revitalized commercial properties on New Braunfels Avenue, W.W. White Road and Austin Street. When one property is renovated, other businesses decide to invest.

SAGE also works to encourage developers and housing-related nonprofits to build housing stock in areas where abandoned properties and vacant lots have been all too common.

To succeed on these critical fronts, our efforts must be concentrated, focused, pragmatic and systematic. The issues facing the East Side aren't unique to one side of town. Working together is our best hope for finding solutions that make a difference.